Events
The term event commonly refers to a GPX+-wide system that has the potential to award users with rare Pokémon eggs or items. Users often had to have been signed up to the site for a certain number of weeks, but beyond this all users could participate. While a number of these events are still active on the site, the larger, more wide-spread event system has been supplanted by Explorations. Monthly Egg Distribution System Every month, the administrators of GPX+ implemented a multi-day event to distribute particular Legendary or Novelty Pokémon. The event was announced through thread on the Updates section of the forums, often titled with an unusual name related to an internet meme and containing a humorous illustration or animated image (such as "Today Everything Is Green"). The thread contained some detailed information about the event, such as which eggs would be distributed (with the identity of one of the eggs, especially if it was a new Novelty egg, humorously withheld), as well as a list of requirements needed to participate. Commander Wymsy was usually responsible for announcing and running the event, but Big Bidoof hosted the final egg distribution event in August 2010. On the days of the event, one of the administrators would initialize a script to hand out the eggs. Each egg type had a limited run, and so the eggs were randomly distributed to eligible users. To be eligible to receive an egg, a player had to meet the requirements set out in the event thread, then leave an empty space in his party. At least one of the eggs distributed each day would hatch shiny. Eligible users normally could obtain only one Pokémon egg or other reward during the entire event. If a user had already obtained one of the event Pokémon during a past event, he would be ineligible to receive it directly again. The player was required to have an open space in their party during the event and, to ensure that inactive accounts could not receive eggs that would never be hatched, participants were required to have logged into GPX+ at some point during the week prior to the event as a basic requirement for the event. The restriction on inactive accounts was made more stringent by requiring a certain number of total interactions in order to be eligible for an event egg. This was implemented to ensure the eggs would go to active members of the site. Other limits were later imposed to improve the chances of users who had never received an egg. During the last monthly event, the Activity Score statistic was made public and used to determine the chances of obtaining an egg. Explorations Replacing the older event system is a set of Explorations that users could undertake, in which they must complete a series of tasks framed by stories and illustrations. Normal Explorations are available at all times and reward users with either highly-sought after but non-Legendary Pokémon, or valuable items such as Flame Orbs. Two to three Special Explorations are rotated monthly and reward Very Rare Pokémon. As with the older system, Explorations have various activity requirements that must be met to undertake the tasks. Competitions In January 2010, the administrators introduced competitions to promote users actively working to obtain valuable Pokémon and items on the site. Three classes of competitions were introduced: design contests, Site-Wide Shiny Hunts, and Scavenger Hunts. Dress Up Contests To show off the new Accessory system, GPX+ hosted a Dress Up Contest in January 2010. Users were asked to place accessories on their Pokémon and, optionally, display them on a backdrop. So long as the Pokémon was not completely hidden by the accessories, the additional sprites could be arranged in any pattern the user could imagine. Submitted dressed-up Pokémon were voted upon by the userbase in a series of elimination rounds, with the winners receiving rare Egg Vouchers. The grand prize winner, Pokii, received an Arceus egg in his party directly. Subsequent contests were held on December (after the introduction of custom-made Christmas Accessories) and on October 2011, unique in that only 5th-generation Pokémon were allowed to be submitted. The prizes for both these contests was an Arceus egg once more, with Vouchers being awarded to other highly-placing entrants. Other Design Contests In celebration of Easter, an "Egg colouring" contest was opened in April 2010. Starting with the basic GPX+ egg shape, users were given free-reign to redesign the pattern, so long as any detailing did not exceed the width or height of the egg by too many pixels. In addition to receiving an Arceus egg, the grand prize winning design replaced the generic egg design in the Lab on Easter Sunday of that year. Other highly-placing entrants received Vouchers. The top 30 designs (1st through 4th places) were used in April 2011 for a special Easter Egg hunt. Christmas was the theme for the December 2011 Ornament design contest. As with the egg colouring contest, users were provided a basic shape - in this case a Christmas tree ball ornament with cap - and could design a simple ornament, again so long as the design did not exceed the edges of the pattern by too many pixels. Awards were given as in other contests, and the top 10 designs were used in a special "Bauble Tree" event; users who participated in the Scavenger Hunt during the first 10 days that month would earn one of the baubles for every task completed. On Christmas day, the user would then receive a number of presents in the form of December 2011 Trinkets, depending upon the number of baubles obtained. Site-Wide Shiny Hunts Held infrequently in the past, GPX+ currently implements a Site-Wide Shiny Hunt every two months. All users on the site can hunt for a particular species of Pokémon designated by the staff as the target of the hunt; users must use a specific, temporary Shiny Hunt slot to sign up for the hunt, or their participation will not be recognized (this slot does not count against the 4+ already provided in the Recorder and its expansions). Often starting at the middle of the month, users can begin obtaining and hatching eggs toward the Shiny Hunt (any Shiny Pokémon obtained or hatched before that date will not count). Sign-ups will remain open until the end of the month, when the hunt typically ends. Initially, any users who hatch a Shiny Pokémon receive a special prize; all other Hunt participants received older Rare Items, Enigma Stones, or Nuggets. Prize Points were used as rewards instead of items once they were introduced; grand prize winners received 45 Prize Points in addition to the special prize, while all other Hunt participants will obtain one Prize Point for every 15 eggs hatched, up to a maximum of 30 Prize Points. Participants who hatched over 750 eggs during the March Shiny Hunt without obtaining a Shiny Pokémon also received the special prize. An option is provided in the Shine Recorder to either cancel the hunt or continue it as a normal hunt if the user does not obtain a Shiny Pokémon during the alloted period. If continued, it will continue to use the Site-wide slot; should one of the user's regular Recorder slots be vacated (by completing or canceling a normal hunt), the Site-wide hunt will be moved to a normal slot. On occasion, the staff will give the option of hatching one of three different Pokémon for the site-wide Shiny Hunt. Users can choose any of the Pokémon provided, and subsequently continue to participate with one of the other Pokémon (or the same Pokémon already obtained). Hatching multiple Shiny Pokémon will not give the users additional points or prizes. Because they were introduced before the Site-Wide Shiny Hunts were implemented as a regular feature, the first two Hunts had markedly different properties. The Hunts lasted only one week instead of two, and users could not sign up once the race had started. The reward system was also much simpler: the first hunt rewarded a Shiny Voucher for the Pokémon for users that hatched over 150 eggs without winning, while all other non-winners received an Enigma Stone; during the second hunt, users hatching over 150 eggs received an Enigma Stone, while others received a Nugget. The grand prizes for the Site-Wide Shiny Hunts were as follows: Scavenger Hunts Alternating monthly with the Site-Wide Shiny Hunts, Scavenger Hunts provide the single largest source of Prize Points on the site. Starting on the 15th of the month at reset, all users are given one of a number of tasks that must be completed by the following reset: * Raise a Pokémon to a particular level: ** Select a Pokémon from a provided list (generated randomly). ** Hatch a Pokémon of a particular Pokédex color, Nature, and/or Type. To date the tasks have only asked for two of these traits at a time (for example, a Brown, Hardy Pokémon). Very Rare and Novelty Pokémon are excluded. * Obtain one or more trinkets of a particular Rarity. The particular goal for the day will be displayed as a tool-tip on the Scavenger Hunt icon, located on the Notification Area. If the task calls for a Pokémon, it must be obtained as an egg and hatched on the day it was called for, but can be raised by any means. Trinkets must similarly be obtained on the day of the task that calls for them; it does not matter when its chest was obtained. Users must click on the icon to actually complete the task; this action takes them to the Scavenger Hunt page, which displays a history of hunts for that month, the number of users who have completed those hunts, and the number of users that have completed any number of hunts for the month. Prize Points are awarded after reset on the last day of the month. Users are awarded points depending on the number of tasks completed: * 1-5 tasks: 3 points per task * 6-10 tasks: 4 points per task * 11+ tasks: 5 points per task Weekly Pokémon Hunts From Tuesday and Thursday of every week, users have the opportunity to earn Prize Points by participating in a Weekly Pokémon Hunt. Each week, Pokémon of a specific type can be entered into the contest; at the end of the hunt, the Pokémon will be ranked based upon its Individual Values (IVs), Evolutionary Stage, Rarity, and Shininess, with any number of Pokémon occupying a rank depending on the number of entrants and the thresholds established for each rank. Users can submit any Pokémon so long as it was hatched within 24 hours of submission; for a 200-point fee, the Pokémon can be removed so that a different one can be submitted. All participants in the hunt obtain Prize Points: * 1st: 12 Prize Points * 2nd: 6 Prize Points * 3rd: 3 Prize Points * Consolation (no rank): 1 Prize Point Secret Santa The Secret Santa Exchange is a holiday event that takes place some days before Christmas. Users are able to submit any Pokémon in their possession to the event, and much like a real-life "Secret Santa" exchange, will receive another Pokémon when the event ends (usually on Christmas Day). Anyone who submits a Pokémon will randomly receive another Pokémon of the same rarity from among the pool of all such Pokémon submitted to the event; the exceptions are Manaphy and Summonable Very Rare Pokémon, which are classified into their own group for the purposes of distribution. When a Pokémon is submitted, a spot on the user's party is replaced by a placeholder egg, taking the appearance of the generic, Lab egg sprite. This egg cannot hatch or be removed in any way, effectively decreasing the number of Pokémon allowed in the user's party by one. The placeholder is replaced by the exchanged egg once the event ends. Users who submit Shiny Pokémon will receive a Shiny Pokémon in exchange; should there be an odd number of Shiny Pokémon submitted, one person would receive their entrant back along with a separate award, such as a Voucher. It is widely believed that vouchers were also given to users who donated Shiny Pokémon in 2011.